“We might end up hiking before financial markets and the economy fully recover. I believe that the sentiment is shared at the top levels of the federal reserve, among the key policy makers. However, if they want to hike, and “as soon as they can,” then when is “as soon as they can””?

“Sales business depends on quick turnover of inventories, that requires frequent deliveries, which stand in the way of Beijing’s effort to combat air pollution for the Olympic games. The host city as often been rated as having the worst air among the world’s major cities, and lots of that comes from its three million cars.”

“We’ve never been in a better environment to take what’s coming because we haven’t been building that much commercial and in fact, availability vacancy is down and is lowest in the country right now -– 6 percent. Price per square foot is at an all time high in Manhattan.”

“[XM Satellite and Sirius] took one year and 156 days -- much longer than it took to combine Exxon and Mobile. They did miss the 2008-2009 automobile season, but this is going to be a powerhouse. Be careful, they’re going to have to refinance.”

“Earnings from Dow component 3M along with data on housing and jobless claims will be the catalyst for markets on Thursday. But it was a sharp drop in the price of oil, boosting stocks on Wednesday. Crude oil closing down again another $3.98 a barrel lower to end the session at now $124.44 a barrel because of a lower than expected drop off in supplies.”